Archive for January, 2005

The UK Telegraph tells of a woman in Germany who may lose her unemployment benefits for not taking a job as a whore. Uh…Prostitute. Uhhh….commercial sex worker. Whew! It’s so hard to know what we are calling prostitutes these days.

Apparently, prostitution was legalized in Germany two years ago. As a result, “sex worker” is now a legitimate employment opportunity in the former Weimar Republic. It seems that a woman, unemployed and receiving unemployment benefits, was asked by a brothel to come and “work”. She turned them down.

Under a law passed last year, she may now have her unemployment benefits cut because she turned down a legitimate work opportunity.

As if whoring was the moral equivalent of say, welding parts on a BMW.

Most of you have probably never met a prostitute, so your concept of a prostitute may resemble Julia Roberts in “Pretty Woman.” Well, I have provided medical care for several woman who made their living as strippers and prostitutes. Glamorous is not an adjective I would attach to any of them. The usual “commercial sex worker” that I encountered was monetarily very poor. She usually had poor hygiene (smelled bad), poor dentition (rotting teeth), one or two children, (usually not living with her) and a past history of multiple surgical procedures (cesarean sections, laparoscopies for pelvic pain and others). She was generally quite unattractive and often moderately overweight which apparently did not decrease her appeal to those who craved her service.

Maybe the prostitutes are different in Hollywood or in major cities from the prostitutes in southeast Iowa and western Illinois, but I really doubt it.

Prostitution is a crime to my way of thinking. And not a victimless crime, I might add. The poor woman who finds herself in this lifestyle by choice or force has usually been abused by boyfriends and rarely comes from a stable home environment. Most often alcohol or drug abuse are this woman’s companions. Social diseases are common, even for those who use latex protection. Many of these diseases are viruses carried for the rest of her life. Although she bear full responsibility for her actions, these extenuating circumstances and more help explain her behavior.

She is victimized by the sexual male uninhibited by societal mores or personal morality. With her, he is free to satisfy himself in whatever perverted way he wishes.

This sex without obligation or consequence encourages males to stay unattached, unmarried sexual predators further weakening the family and denigrating the role of women.

One commentator I heard defined each society’s primary role as civilizing its male children and preventing them from becoming adult barbarians. That may be true.

Yet the liberals and feminists argue that prostitution is a victimless crime and not really a crime at all, just a business exchange between adults. As such, it should be regulated, not criminalized. But if it is just business, just a job, legitimate work, then the situation in Germany is the result. So Germany proposes punishment (removing unemployment benefits) for a woman who declines this “employment opportunity.”

So, this means that the crime of prostitution, with its abuse of women, with its proclivity to disease, with its emotional scars, with its encouragement of the male monster is no longer a crime in Germany. Not only is it no longer a crime, but it is now a legitimate occupation. Not only is it a legitimate occupation, but now a woman must participate in this detestable act or be punished by the state.

This is the world turned on its head.

Solomon spoke about people like that, people who love evil and hate justice.

Proverbs 2:12-14 Wisdom will save you from the ways of wicked men, from men whose works are perverse, who leave the straight paths to walk in dark ways, who delight in doing wrong and rejoice in the perverseness of evil,…

Proverbs 28:5 Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand it fully.

I pray for these woman trapped and drawn into this “job” and for the society that allows it.

Conservative News Service has this article about a murder that happened here in Minnesota (before I moved here). Apparently, Mine Ener was an instructor in the Villanova history department and was director of the Center of Arab American Studies at that university. She gave birth to a daughter with Down syndrome. She was a married woman, so was not without help or support at home. When she and her daughter were visiting her parents in St. Paul MN she slashed her child’s throat two times with a kitchen knife. The baby girl was six months old. She admitted to killing the child because she did not want her daughter to “go through life suffering”. Her apologists say she was suffering from post partum depression (although receiving treatment) and as such was not responsible for her actions.

While incarcerated, Ms. Ener committed suicide in her Ramsey County jail cell by putting a plastic bag over her head.

Villanova now has decided to honor her memory by dedicating a new section of its library to “commemorate Ener’s life and work.” News articles also state that this area is being dedicated to her memory not only because of her life and work but also to raise awareness of post partum depression.

Oh, dear, where to begin.

I’ve provided care for countless women with post partum depression. At this writing, I’ve been delivering babies now for over a quarter of a century (I am old!)and have yet to see a patient kill her child. I’ve had some threatened to harm themselves or their children and I’ve aided them in obtaining psychiatric help, but NONE acted on that impulse.

And besides, by her own words, she did not kill the child because of her depression or the fact that she had lost touch with reality. She did it so the baby would not “go through life suffering.” Sounds like she knew exactly what she was doing and why. Her thinking does not appear to be delusional or psychotic.

So, in my mind at least, this woman murdered her daughter and post partum depression or not, she was aware, coherent and making perfect sense.

Her daughter had Down syndrome. This disability is just that–a disability, not a life sentence of misery.

My older brother and his wife started their family when they were already in their 30’s. They have three children now, MJ, Marc and Dianna. MJ, their first, has Down syndrome. My wife and I are his god-parents in addition to being his uncle and aunt. He is now 22 years old and is one of the happier souls on this planet. He voted for George Bush for president which means what he lacks in IQ, he more than compensates for in judgment.

Would I have wanted the ultimate solution for little MJ when he was six months old? God forbid.

Now, having a son with Down syndrome is no walk in the park. My brother and his wife have had their hands full. Their was an initial sadness that swept over the entire family as the magnitude of his disability settled in. How tragic! Both my brother and sister-in-law are teachers. They are educated people so in love with books and school and all that goes with it. Then to know that their son, their first born, would never really share that with them, would never reach a intelligence to perhaps even live on his own. Such a heartbreak.

But life goes on and his did too. It gave our somewhat smug family of high achievers an insight into the meaning of disabilities and also helped us appreciate that the disabled are people, too. We don’t think of MJ as our nephew with Down syndrome, we just think of him as MJ.

I say all this to point out that a disability is NOT a justification for homicide.

But now I’m left to wonder: Why is Villanova honoring the memory of this woman? One blog, Open Book has a good summary and many helpful posts. Would they be honoring her if she had killed someone else’s baby? Would they honor her if the slain child did not suffer from Down syndrome? The liberals are the first to defend the right to kill an unborn child with Down syndrome. It seems to me to be a minor moral stretch to extend the killing to those six months old with Down syndrome.

When asked, the university said that they wanted to honor her life, not her tragic ending. Like it was something that “just happened” to her, not something for which she was responsible. One student from Villanova points out, however, that the university removed the name of John DuPont from a building when he was convicted of murder. So they just “selectively” honor murderers at Villanova.

I, of all people, having provided care to women with post partum depression, would not want to minimize the impact of the disease. It is and can be devastating. But even those in the depths of post partum depression do not murder. It just is not a justification in my mind.

So, shame on Villanova for their actions. This appears to be another black eye for the Catholic Church (Villanova is a Catholic university) as if they didn’t have enough already.

My wife of thirty two years and I have four children. They are a blessing to us…well, OK, they are more than a blessing to us. They are…well, let me try to explain.

Since so many books, articles, blogs, conversations and interactions are written and spoken about children, it seems that anything I would write or share would be a useless redundancy. And it is redundant, I’m sure. But you know, that’s how it is with most things in life that are really important. How many love songs are there? Has the topic been exhausted? How many times have you heard the Christmas story or the Easter story? Just when you think that you’ve explored every angle to the Easter story, here comes Mel Gibson and The Passion of the Christ. What about marriage? Has the story of the best marriage been told? I’m sure not. How many movies have been made about love, sacrifice, honor, bravery and daring? And they are still being made.

So that’s why I think its appropriate to share my thoughts about children, particularly my children. I hope you find them worthwhile.

My first thought of the meaning of fatherhood and parenthood exploded in my brain the first time I held our oldest son, Nathan, and looked into his face. I saw his delicate features and watched his somewhat irregular breathing. He had been born prematurely and struggled with his breathing. He was hospitalized for about a month before we could bring him home. As I held him, I felt an emotion that is so difficult to put into words. At that moment, I bonded to him. In a split second, I clearly felt the magnitude of my responsibility and could see the path I would take for the rest of my life. In that moment, I felt an overwhelming sense of love for him. It just washed over me and surrounded me in a way that I had never before experienced. I experience an overwhelming desire to do whatever it would take to protect his little life and give him a start on his life’s journey. It was like God, at that moment, gave me a glimpse of true love. And it was much different from romantic love. It was a dedication, a strength that I felt well up inside, a feeling that I knew at that moment was permanent, lasting and forever. I knew that no matter what happened over the next months and years and decades and lifetime, that I would never be able to escape that love. It held me and became part of me and became part of who I would be from then on.

I felt that way with each of our children.

Sometimes I try to explain to couples pregnant for the first time just what they may experience when they finally meet their child. I relay to them the emotions I experienced. They usually have a somewhat blank, polite look, like I must be a little crazy after delivering babies all these years. But later, when they return after the baby is born, they generally understand. I always add that once you have children of your own, you will know why people with children always talk about their children. You can’t help it!

I read a story last year about a pontoon plane that went sank in an Alaskan bay. I don’t remember all the details, but it went something like this. Of the people on board, there was a father and a young teen son. There was a tide going out to sea, so making it to shore was a difficult swim and the teen was not a good swimmer. The father could have saved himself and made it to shore with the rest, but stayed with his son, trying to help him to shore. They lost the battle with the tide. It carried them further and further from shore. Neither survived. They died together. If I were to guess, I would imagine that the father used his last ounce of strength and effort to keep his son’s head above water.

That makes perfect sense to me.

How could a father do anything else? Could a father let his child perish? When I think of my own children and picture them in harms way, I have no doubt that I would do whatever I could to save them from danger. When I look deep into my soul, I like to think I could make a similar sacrifice for a stranger, but I’m just not completely sure. Probably all men, myself included, like to think that we would be brave, bold, and self-sacrificing if in a dangerous situation and would rise to the occasion, but I’ve never been tested like that where my physical life was on the line. Maybe I would, maybe I wouldn’t. But for my children…I would. I have no doubt.

This love that we feel for our children comes from God, I am sure. He put it there. He made us to feel that bond. He designed we men to experience that desire to protect and provide for that little life gifted to us. He designed women with a different desire, but one no less strong or powerful. Women are gifted with, I believe, the desire and need to conceive, carry and give birth to life, and also the desire to nurture and provide care after a baby is born. I see it every day in my practice. It is beautiful thing.

Thank you, God, for this gift. Thank you that each time a child enters this world, you provide these feelings and emotions to new parents. Thank you for giving us a glimpse of what real love must be like, even though our sin may dim its splendor. Thank you for the gift of children.

This is an excellent article that gives detailed information about PP and its finances.

In a nutshell, PP is in great shape–financially. $35+ million in profit last year alone. 35% of the money from abortion, up from 33% the year prior. Total number of abortions by PP as an organization continue to increase, even though the number of abortions nationwide are down slightly. That’s called “market share”. Seventeen clinics closed last year, “business decisions” according to the report. They just weren’t profitable, apparently.

The death business–its a money maker.

As an OBGYN physician, I am familiar with PP and its operation. I formerly worked in Burlington, IA and often had young women referred to me from PP for evaluation of gynecologic problems, mostly abnormal pap smears. From a gynecologic standpoint, PP provided adequate gynecologic care and our local PP did not perform abortions.

They received funding from the federal government, I think state government, and what patients could pay, based on an income sliding scale. In that regard they were quite accessible to woman of all economic strata.

But you had to be pro-abortion, and strongly so, to work there. One nurse of whom I know, went under PP auspices to obtain her ARNP degree. Her thinking was that better birth control would lessen abortion, so she was very much a “family planning” advocate. But she was opposed to abortion. Apparently, that fact was missed by the local PP before they helped fund her education. Toward the end of her training, she had to work in a clinic making abortion referrals, and wouldn’t do it. There were phone calls back and forth from Texas where she was training to Burlington from where part of her tuition originated.

My, oh, my.

The local PP wanted to immediately withdraw her funding. However, the agreement she had with them included nothing about abortion or her feelings about it. The training program wanted to fail her, but really couldn’t do that either, as her grades were excellent. She was able to finish the program, but under duress and only with the threat of lawsuits if they reneged on their agreement with her.

Their pro-abortion position was so ingrained and so much a part of the organization that it was unthinkable to them that such a person could progress as far as she did and not support abortion.

Another interesting tidbit about PP in Iowa. In Burlington, their major fund raiser of the year–elegant invitations sent to all the prominent citizens of the area–was a winter gathering where the draw was chocolate. They had every form of chocolate dessert imaginable. The name of the gathering dripped with irony. “Death by Chocolate”. How appropriate that an organization committed to death of the unborn would have a fund-raising moniker including the word “Death.”

They also had a book sale. Now, I never attended these gatherings, but somehow, I doubt that Randy Alcorn’s book, “ProLife Answers to ProAbortion Arguments” was included in the sale. Do you think?